Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) Given Outperform Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $69.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CMG has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.81.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance

Shares of CMG opened at $55.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $60.79 and its 200-day moving average is $57.75. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a 12-month low of $46.01 and a 12-month high of $69.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.27.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 43.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 4,404 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $286,304.04. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 185,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,078,337.92. The trade was a 2.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMG. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 13,644 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.2% during the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 14,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $843,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 0.6% during the third quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 31,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 14.4% during the third quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,430 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Traynor Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.31% of the company’s stock.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. It sells food and beverages through offering burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, and salads. The company also provides delivery and related services its app and website. It has operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.